Your Final Moving Day Checklist
Ah, moving day, that special time of year when most of your friends and family suddenly have pressing business elsewhere! Chances are a few kind souls will offer to help, though, so have a supply of snacks and cold drinks on hand.
If you’re lucky enough to have hired professional movers, you can spend part of the day exchanging goodbyes with friends and neighbors. If not, you can enlist those friends and neighbors to help you load up the moving van!
Go through your house, emptying one room at a time. Keep a sturdy chair or footstool nearby to check the top shelves of cupboards, and a flashlight to look into the backs of closets. Once that’s done, sweep, mop, or vacuum, do one final walkthrough, and then close the door. Make it clear to those helping you that sealed rooms are finished with, so that people aren’t trailing dirt into rooms that are empty and clean.
You’ll want to keep a couple of extra boxes or bags on hand to hold anything you’ve missed, along with essentials that you’ve left out until the last day. Make sure not to pack your driver’s license or your car keys!
Leave out any items that will be of use to the new occupants, such as instruction manuals and any notes that you think might be helpful to them, in an easy-to-see place. It will help get them off to a good start in their new home, and they’ll appreciate your thoughtfulness.
It may sound silly, but plan to give yourself a quiet moment alone to reflect on the time you’ve spent in the home you’re about to say goodbye to. Moving can bring up unexpected emotions, and it’s wise to be prepared for them.
Make one final walkthrough, shut off the lights and the gas and make sure all the doors and windows are locked. That’s it; you’re ready to start the next phase of your life in your new house.
